Woman detained after series of stabbings and pedestrians hit by a vehicle in Washington suburbs

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) — A woman was taken into police custody in the Maryland suburbs of Washington following a series of apparently random stabbings and pedestrians struck by a vehicle.

The attacks occurred over roughly two hours Thursday night as Prince George’s County police searched for the person responsible.

Six people were injured, including two stabbing victims who were hospitalized in critical condition, police Deputy Chief James McCreary said during a news conference Thursday evening. Officials released a surveillance video of the woman, calling her a person of interest in the string of attacks.

Police announced on X, formerly Twitter, later Thursday night that she had been detained.

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“Unfortunately this does appear to be a random act,” McCreary said.

He said investigators would continue looking into any possible relationship between the victims and their attacker.

Police initially responded to a call about a pedestrian struck by a car Thursday evening. They found a woman with minor injuries who was walking on the sidewalk when someone hit her, McCreary said. About 10 minutes later, they got another report — from less than 2 miles (3 kilometers) away — about a driver who struck an adult and a teenager, then got out of the car and stabbed the teen.

McCreary said the 15-year-old was in critical condition.

A short time later, two more pedestrians were struck and injured a few miles from that scene, he said. Both suffered non-life threatening injuries.

About an hour after that, a stabbing at a gas station several miles away left a man in critical condition, according to police.

“This evolved rapidly,” McCreary said. “I’ve been on the department for 20 years now, and I can say I have not seen anything like this since I joined the police department.”